


Burn

by Sic_Semper_Tyrannis



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Dream Team RPF, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Cuddles, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Minecraft, Minecraft IRL, One Shot, PTSD, breakdowns, i gave sapnap ptsd, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:07:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28971081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sic_Semper_Tyrannis/pseuds/Sic_Semper_Tyrannis
Summary: “Are you okay?” Dream asked. SapNap looked up and it became clear that he was crying. He nodded, brushing away his tears.“Why don’t we go outside for a bit, check the perimeter?” Dream suggested. Another nod. Dream untangled himself from George and slipped out into the night. SapNap thought about not following, just letting Dream check and then come back, but he desperately wanted this, so he stood and headed out.The one where SapNap has trauma from a trip to the Nether and he and Dream talk about it.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF)
Kudos: 31





	Burn

**Author's Note:**

> Well I guess this means I’m in the mcyt fandom now...

The silence echoed loudly in the tiny shelter. George, Dream, and SapNap were all exhausted after a very long day of traveling, and they’d all but collapsed under a tree. They’d propped up some wooden planks around the base of it, keeping monsters and the evening chill out with the help of some torches. George was already asleep, having passed out cuddled up against Dream as soon as they’d made camp. Dream was still awake, and so was SapNap. The latter was desperately avoiding eye contact, head tucked low as he whittled away at a spare piece of wood. 

“Are you okay?” Dream asked. SapNap looked up and it became clear that he was crying. He nodded, brushing away his tears.  
“Why don’t we go outside for a bit, check the perimeter?” Dream suggested. Another nod. Dream untangled himself from George and slipped out into the night. SapNap thought about not following, just letting Dream check and then come back, but he desperately wanted this, so he stood and headed out. 

Dream was standing just outside the door, strapping on a chest plate and his sword. SapNap pulled a leather chest plate on, it would protect him if needed, but was light enough to not be uncomfortable. Most importantly, it was quiet, meaning they wouldn’t alert nearby monsters to their presence. He strapped on his sword and looked up at Dream. 

His friend was watching him, looking worried but calm.  
“Ready?” Dream asked. He nodded, following along as Dream led the way.  
“So... What’s wrong?” Dream asked softly as they walked. “You haven’t been yourself lately, I’m worried about you.”  
SapNap paused, thinking about what he was going to say.  
“I haven’t felt much like myself lately.” He admitted. Dream nodded. He could practically hear the gears turning as his friend tried to understand what was going on.  
“You’ve been different since we got back from the Nether, distant.” Dream said. It wasn’t accusatory and Dream didn’t sound hurt, it was just a statement. Yeah, he had been different, though SapNap was shocked it had taken him until they got back to notice the change. George had spotted it much sooner but he’d kept his mouth shut, not brave enough to ask about it.  
“I’ve been different a bit longer than that.” SapNap admitted. Dream stayed quiet, maybe hoping he would say more.  
“How long?” He asked finally.  
“Halfway through the Nether.” SapNap answered after a long moment of silence.  
“We came back for you, we would never leave you.” Dream said, almost automatically.  
“I know.” SapNap said, not quite believing it. He’d been taken captive by Piglins in the Nether. It had taken George and Dream almost six hours to find him bashed up, exhausted, and starving, but alive.  
“We looked as soon as we realized you were gone but they rode striders, and we weren’t sure where they took you.” Dream explained.  
“I know.” He did know, Dream told him all of it when he was first rescued, covered in small burns and cuts, sobbing that he thought they’d left him for dead.  
“We looked and looked, George was the one who saw the structure, and even then it took almost half an hour to fight our way down to you. We weren’t even sure you were in there, but we had to try. We went through an entire Nether fortress just looking for you, through caves, forests... They took you so far away.”  
SapNap nodded. He remembered most of the terrain Dream was describing. He’d been dragged through it, wrists and ankles bound and stripped of his armor, carried by Piglins that didn’t seem to care if he got burnt.  
“I tried to get away.” SapNap said after a moment. “They took my armor, my sword, my food...”  
They all remembered how hungry he’d been when he was rescued, he’d downed four bowls of mushroom soup, soup that they all knew he hated.  
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone eat so much of a food they don’t like so eagerly before.” Dream laughed softly.  
“If I ever see another mushroom I’m going to puke.” SapNap smiled. He could almost taste the bland broth now.  
“We tried to give you pork chops but you wouldn’t touch them.” Dream remembered fondly. “You were the one who insisted on the soup.”  
SapNap thought very carefully before he spoke. “I think, if you’d been held captive by pigs for as long as I was, that you wouldn’t want pork chops either.”  
That made Dream laugh. SapNap loved his laugh.  
“You were so thirsty too, it was a good thing George had water on him; there aren’t exactly wells lying around in the Nether.”  
“There was so much lava around, so much smoke.” SapNap remembered. “It burned my throat.”  
“Burned your clothes a bit too. We had to make you a new shirt.” Dream must’ve been remembering the tatters of burnt fabric he’d had on when they finally found him. The remains of his t-shirt. There’d barely been anything left of it; the lower two thirds were completely gone, and the upper third was in pieces.  
“It didn’t burn.” SapNap said after another long pause. Dream always seemed to know when he was trying to find words, and he always waited long enough for him to gather them.  
“What?” Dream asked, confused. “There was hardly any of it left, and it was charred all over.”  
“It burnt a little I guess.” SapNap shrugged, falling silent. Dream let the silence hang in the air before speaking again.  
“What happened to it?”  
“They ripped it off of me.” SapNap answered before he could second guess himself. It was Dream, Dream wouldn’t judge him. Dream was his friend, his supporter.  
“The rest of it did burn a bit, though.” He added after a moment.  
“SapNap,” Dream took a breath. “You said they didn’t hurt you.”  
He stopped walking, forcing SapNap to stop too.  
“I-. I didn’t want to upset you more. George was already crying, and you both felt so bad... I don’t know if I would’ve been ready to tell you anyways.” He admitted. “I was going to, I kept telling myself I was going to tell you, tell George.”  
“It’s okay, I’m glad you’re telling me now.”  
SapNap nodded and they started walking again.  
“The burns and cuts were from them, they thought it was funny when I screamed.” He said finally. “They dipped the hilts of their swords in the lava and touched me with them. That’s why the burns were all so round.”  
SapNap had initially told them he’d been splashed by lava. They’d bought it.  
“And the cuts?” Dream asked softly.  
“Arrows mostly. They liked the blood, I think, liked cutting me with them.” He remembered the sharp drag of the arrow heads over his restrained limbs and shuddered.  
“It’s over now.” Dream reminded him. “You’re safe.”  
He nodded, he knew that, deep down.  
“Sap, did you really think we’d left you?” He asked it in a way that made it seem like he dreaded the answer.  
“What?” SapNap asked.  
“When we got you back and we were treating the burns, giving you water, you kept saying ‘I thought you left me, I thought you left me’ over and over again. Did you really think that?” Dream asked.  
“Not really. I thought-. I thought they took me so far away that you’d never find me. I thought that some might’ve gone back to chase you out of the Nether, I thought you might run out of food before you could find me, or you might search for weeks and figure I was dead... but I never thought you would just decide to take off and leave me behind willingly.” He explained. Dream nodded.  
“Even if we had run out of food, or been chased out, we would’ve come back for you. We were never going to leave.”  
“I know that now, but then... It felt like you’d never find me.”  
“I’m sorry it took so long, we got stopped by mobs a lot, and we didn’t know where to look. I guess it doesn’t matter now.” Dream sighed.  
“I guess not.”  
They walked the next stretch of the border in silence.  
“Dream?”  
“Yeah?”  
“Can I have a hug?” SapNap asked shyly.  
“Of course.” Dream stopped and pulled him in close. He always felt so safe in his friends arms. They didn’t hug very often, but when they did, he always savored the contact.  
“We’re almost back.” Dream said, pulling away. SapNap nodded. He shut his eyes for a moment, remembering the first night in the Overworld after they’d rescued him. They’d run straight back to the portal, desperate to get SapNap out of the Nether and patched up. They found a river to clean up in, the cold felt so good on his burns. He remembered swallowing mouthfuls of the frigid water as quickly as he could, remembered how it soothed his throat, remembered Dream’s cries of protest at the water not being boiled first. He remembered how little he cared.  
They had steak for dinner that night, steak and sweet berries, SapNap’s favorite. He remembered the taste of the meat, how good it was, how soft the grass felt under him. A sharp contrast to the blackstone he’d spent hours tied to. He remembered begging Dream not to set up a campfire, pleading with him to just use a lantern for light instead. He won, in the end.  
He remembered hearing his friend’s hushed voices outside the shelter as he sipped apple juice. He remembered wondering if they were talking about him, knowing they were. He remembered waking up from a nightmare and falling back asleep in Dream’s arms. He would give anything to relive that moment, to feel that safe and loved again. SapNap opened his eyes and Dream was looking at him.  
“Are you okay?” He asked for the second time that night. SapNap shook his head.  
“Not really.”  
“Can I help?”  
“Can we cuddle when we get back? Just for a bit?” SapNap asked softly.  
“Of course.” Dream smiled. They started walking again, but it felt a little different. He felt more vulnerable, but also safer somehow. They stripped off their armor and crept back into the shelter. Dream lay down first, lifting a corner of the blanket for SapNap to join him. He crawled under it, burying his face in Dream’s neck with a sigh.  
“Try and get some sleep, okay?” Dream asked. He nodded, relaxing in his friends hold. This was nice. It was nice falling asleep like that, in his friend’s protective hold. He almost felt like things could be okay again, but only almost.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are appreciated!


End file.
